Best friends and relatives

In closing, friendship is meant to be one of life's many journeys.

It starts with talking to a stranger, getting to know that stranger until they become an acquaintance.

Eventually that acquaintance becomes a friend and it's up to the two of you to decide where the relationship heads next.

My best friend wasn't a stranger, not just an acquaintance that became a friend. I knew him all my life, but at a certain time in our lives, we became closer than we were ever before and we started to know each other in a different manner

It has been almost 2 years now since I've lost my very best friend. September 6^th.He was 96 years old when a bus hit him. He wasn't just a normal friend. No, he raised me at an important stage of my life, almost like a substitute dad, when I needed him the most. He knew me better than my own friends did and we could talk about everything. He talked about his fears to me, his emotions, his sexlife, his friends, just all aspects of life. I could talk about the same thing with him. He helped me like I helped him, without asking any questions, without judging me, without expecting anything in return. When my parents got their divorce, when my children were born, when I got married(he was my best man), when I got divorced, when I was sick, when I needed a home,when his wife died, when he was sick, when he had a new girlfriend, we were there for each other. We laughed together, we'd cry together, we shared our secrets, got drunk together. The only thing he ever asked me, made me promise, is that when he should die, I would make sure that he wasn't in pain and if he had died I made arrangements for his funeral in a way he wanted to. And I did.

I knew more about him than his own wife did. And he knew more about me than anyone else. My mate often spoke about the age difference between us. He used to say" I wish I was the same age, like you, than we would go out more, go on a vacation, have more fun."But most of the time, we didn't even notice the difference in age. Not when we rode our bikes or walked for 10 miles, went shopping together or left to see other friends.

He was my relative. First he was my grandfather, then he became my dad, and the last 15 years we became friends. When I was little I called him grandpa, but when we got older, we used to call each other pal or mate.

We talked about it a lot, about this friendship, because we thought it might seem a little strange to our surroundings and our relatives. And the truth is, that most of our relatives, didn't understand that there could be such a bound between us. Until he died. My children saw a bound between us, like there was with my other friends, not only the bound between a grandfather and his grandchild. This was much more. My children just called it a special bound. But it's just like Talented _ink said; it's up to the two of you to decide where the relationship heads next.

Like I told at the memorial service: "He was more than a grandfather, more than a dad. He was the best friend I'd had.

And I really think that the most beautiful bound, even with relatives, is the bound of friendship.